Jay Hunter series. Episode one - Partners in Time chapter 4/8
Ianto woke up alone. This was no great surprise, he often woke alone as Jack needed very little sleep. Maybe Jay was the same. Waking in the hothouse was a bit more unusual though. He dressed in his waistcoat and trousers, the only bits of his suit that had made it up here with him after the rest had been taken off him last night. He couldn’t help but grin at the memories as his fingers moved over the smooth fabric.
Being the well prepared man that he was, Ianto had a couple of spare suits and some toiletries in one of the storage rooms in the lower levels. It was his way of feeling that he sort of lived at the hub, lived with Jack, but without having to let on to anyone else that he felt this way. Ianto paused for a minute, reflecting. These people were his friends, one of them his lover, and yet he hid things from them; had always been hiding things from them, from his very first day. And here he was, still hiding. He sighed. He knew he was only hiding himself from them now, him and his feelings. It was the only way not to get hurt. Or when he did get hurt, at least no-one would know.
Dressed as far as he could, Ianto stepped out of the hothouse.
“Thank god you’re awake Ianto!” called Jack’s voice from below.
Ianto looked over the metal railing to see Jay lounging in a chair and Jack leaning against one of the work stations. They both smiled up at him, both holding coffee cups. Ianto scowled down at them.
“Jack said he’d make me a cup of coffee, but frankly whatever is in this mug has never been, and never will be, coffee.” Jay grinned at him, “he also claims that you make the best coffee in the world.”
“Actually, I said universe,” cut in Jack
“Apologies, so you did. So, Ianto. you going to come down here and prove that you’re the best?”
“Didn’t I do that last night?” he enquired with a raised eyebrow. He allowed himself a small smile as he quickly turned away from the railing. That wasn’t the sort of thing people expected him to say, but something about being around Jay made him feel different, lighter somehow. Jack looked happy too, a different happy to the one he normally displayed.
Getting onto the main hub level Ianto finally looked at them again. Jay was smiling broadly at him, clearly pleased with his last comment. Jack looked slightly surprised, which pleased Ianto. He liked that he could still surprise Jack.
“I’m going to freshen up, then I will come back and make you coffee. And it will be the best you have ever had.” He turned and left them to it.
Jack turned his attention back to Jay. It was good to see her, there was no denying that, but their meeting had not been what he had expected. There had been no shouting, no fighting, in fact the events of their last time together had not been brought up at all. He had briefly considered that maybe she was telling the truth when she said she just wanted to visit, but the woman he had known and the truth had never been very close.
Neither of them had slept much so they had dressed and headed down here to talk - actually catch-up this time - and leave Ianto to sleep. He had certainly earned it. They had talked a lot. Jay had told him about the collapse of the Time Agency; Jack had told her about Torchwood while carefully avoiding some of the finer points of his life since he’d left the Agency; and they had reminisced about their times working together. They were both aware of the subjects they were avoiding, but neither broached it.
Watching Ianto leave, Jack and Jay started to return to their shared memory of a fight they had had with a sycle some years before. Sycle’s were strange pig-like creatures who walked upright on their back legs, but they secreted a thick, pale pink, treacle-like mucus. Hand to hand fighting with them was never pleasant and that day it had been a long fight.
They were interrupted again when the cog wheel opened and Tosh, Owen and Gwen walked through together.
Jack looked up. “What are you doing all together? Have you been waiting outside or something? Too scared to come in on your own?”
Owen looked at him. “Yes actually. I got here first but god knows what I might have walked in on, then Gwen turned up and we decided to wait for Tosh to hack into the CCTV so we could check the way was safe before risking a sight to make us want to gouge out our own eye balls.”
Jay smiled, looking at Tosh. “Jack told me you were the clever one. Intelligence is such an attractive quality.” She let her eyes wander over Tosh’s body. “And clearly not your only one.”
Owen caught the look in Jay’s eye and took a protective step in front of Tosh. Tosh, blushing, delicately stepped out from behind Owen. She would take appreciation wherever she could get it.
A potentially awkward moment was interrupted by Ianto returning, clean shaven and immaculate in a new suit. “Coffee?” he asked. A chorus of approval and thanks greeted him and he set off to his coffee machine. This seemed to galvanise everyone else and the team spread out to their workstations to start their day.
The next few hours passed entirely without incident. Jay was quiet as she spent the day watching the team at work, watched Jack interact with them. She caught Jack’s eye a couple of times and smiled at him as she moved around the Hub.
But just as Jay was watching Jack, so he was watching her. She was a very competent agent possessing her own unique skills as they all did. Jack had always admired her abilities and had enjoyed the times they were partnered together. And he couldn’t deny that to have her so clearly impressed with his team made Jack glow with pride.
But her competency was one of the reasons why Jack was still having a hard time trusting her, and she could lie as easily as breathe. When Jay had asked Ianto to have a tour of the archives Jack had nodded his permission before retreating to his office to watch their progress on the CCTV. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see, and he wasn’t sure what he would do if he saw it, but all he did see was Ianto in his element. He showed Jay around the archives, talking about his impeccable systems and some of the things that they had down there, but, Jack noticed with a smile, not taking her to the more secure vaults. The pair clearly got on and there was a lot of laughing. Jack noticed Jay lean close to Ianto a few times under the guise of closer examining an artefact. He also noticed that while Ianto looked embarrassed he didn’t move away from her touch.
His thoughts were interrupted by a beeping.
“Rift monitor!” called Tosh.
Jack left his office and leaned over the railing for an update.
“Huge surge in rift energy. Two miles outside the city boundary in a large area of waste-land awaiting redevelopment.”
“How big?” enquired Jack.
Owen and Gwen had brought up the readings on their own computers.
“Big big,” said Owen at the same time Gwen let out a “bloody hell.”
“Right,” said Jack, “get ready to go now.”
Ianto and Jay had heard the alarm from downstairs and had rushed back up to the main hub. Jack spoke to them as he grabbed his greatcoat and ran down the metal stairs.
“Huge rift surge, we have to go. Jay you can stay here. Don’t touch anything.”
“I don’t think so, do you?” she said putting on her leather coat.
“There isn’t room in the SUV for you.”
“I have my own transport.”
“You don’t know where you’re going.”
“I can follow you. And I can take Ianto to guide me in case I go too fast for you to keep up.”
“I don’t mind,” said Ianto.
Jack stared at them. He was loosing this argument and the team were losing time. Just because whatever was out there wasn’t near people yet, it wouldn’t be long until it was.
“Fine. Tosh, send the co-ordinates to Ianto’s PDA. We’re leaving now.”
Jack, Gwen, Tosh and Owen ran for the underground car park while Ianto and Jay headed out through the tourist office. Once outside Jay led Ianto over to a sleek black racing bike.
“You can’t park that here,” said Ianto, “it should have been towed by now.”
“Type of perception filter. People can see it, they just aren’t worried about it. Now put this on.”
She had pulled two black motorcycle helmets from compartments at the back of the bike and watched as Ianto pulled one down over his head. She did the same and climbed onto the front of the bike.
“Can you hear me?”
“Uh, yeah,” said Ianto.
“Good. Built in mics, speakers and transmitters. Will make you directing me easier. Now get on.”
Ianto climbed onto the back of the bike as Jay turned over the engine. He could feel the power humming through the machine under him. He wrapped his arms tightly around Jay’s waist.
She looked round at him. “Later, we get you some leathers.”
A small shiver ran through Ianto’s body at Jay’s words, but was quickly replaced by a feeling of pure exhilaration as Jay twisted the handle bars and the bike roared into life, shooting down the boardwalk.